On The Subject Of Cute
by Kiwi Erin
Summary: In which Bel's cuteness is questioned and Fran reaches some conclusions. B26 BelFran 26B. Sneak peek: TYE-bazooka.


On The Subject Of "Cute"

Everyone watched in shock while the familiar pink smoke slowly dissipated. Fran watched with baited breath, wondering what the newcomer would look like. Would the Bel from ten years ago really behave like a small child, innocent and playful without the bloodlust? From what sempai himself had told him, his not-as-successful-as-he-thought murder attempt on his twin brother had happened when they were eight. Sempai was seventeen…

The small silhouette, still partially hidden in the mist, moved forward, towards the couch were Fran sat. A familiar blonde head and an even more familiar glimmer of silver were revealed when a small hand waved around, chasing off the pink fog faster. Smaller versions of Bel's usual white, laced boots appeared when the child stepped forward, a cocky strut obvious from just two steps. Fran's lips quirked up.

'_Ushishishi_~ Looks like prince Bel has arrived in a place full of stinky peasants!'

Squalo's mouth dropped open without even so much as an outraged yell, face twitching dangerously, while Levi spluttered indignantly from where he was standing in the corner. Luss chuckled indulgently at Bel's timeless princeliness and tilted his head at the tiny, _tiny_ royalty standing tall and proud in front of them. The child looked around, big smile plastered on his face confidently, completely disregarding how lethal the "stinky peasants" around him were.

Fran couldn't keep himself from smiling. The sight was so familiar and yet completely different from what he was used to.

Bel was wearing a white dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up to just behind his elbows and all the buttons done up neatly. Formal looking black slacks hung off his thin hips, tucked into his boots messily. Splatters of what looked like mud decorated the otherwise pristine white leather, even reaching up to his slacks.

The little prince liked to play outside?

Bel seemed to be studying them, face tilted in Squalo's direction. The grin widened into something sharp and simply, _naughty_ and Fran saw it coming long before their strategy captain did. He recognized it from his own past, after all.

'_Ushishishi_~ You look like my great-aunt Abigail.' Bel gave his future commander another quick once over. '_Shishi_, maybe a little hairier.'

Fran saw the next move coming as well and before Squalo could chop up the younger version of his sempai (though that was a fight he kind of wanted to see), the illusionist darted forward quickly, snatching the boy up by the collar of his shirt and jumping off to safety behind one of the plush sofas. Squalo's sword sliced through empty air and he hollered at Fran angrily, but made no move to come after them. Thankfully.

To say that Fran was surprised when a sharp pain stabbed through his forearm, would be a misconception. He just lifted Bel higher up in the air, suppressing incredulous chuckles at the fact that he _could_ and dodging a no more than half-assed swipe at his face. The wide grin never left the boy's face. Bel grinned at Fran like he sensed the humour he felt at the boy's antics. Children were supposed to be more intuitive, right?

'VROOOOOOIII, keep that brat away from me or I'll slice him up!'

'But long-haired commander,' Fran droned, changing his grip to hold the back of the child's shirt so that he too could enjoy the look on their sempai's face, 'You've got, what, twenty years on Bel now? You won't be able to keep up with him, such an old man.'

As expected, Squalo blew up. Bel's high childish giggles filled the air at his expense and the others hid their own amusement (poorly). Fran changed his grip again (Bel was a lot heavier than he looked) until he carried him like a little princess. Surprisingly, he didn't object to being carried like that. Instead, he snuggled his little pale face into the front of Fran's uniform, one tiny hand (Fran just couldn't get over how _small_ he was) curling around the leather.

'VROOOII, FRAN! You're taking care of him!' Squalo roared at him, face a deep red with anger, before stomping off somewhere. Levi trailed after him, no doubt suspecting that he was headed for the boss's office and wanting to get there first. Luss however, staid.

Fran tilted his head at the cooing man, not at all wondering what was going on in his head. It was pretty obvious.

'Oh my! Little Bel-chan is so cute!'

Fran mentally nodded. Yes, yes he was.

The muscular man sauntered over, peeking at the little boy in his arms. He gushed loudly at the cuteness and slapped his hands together, holding them to his cheek. Fran decided he'd had enough of that (also, he spotted the glimmer of sharp silver starting to peek out from one of the rolled up sleeves) and shouldered his way past the man. Luss wailed after him about the unfairness of keeping tiny!Bel all to himself and was ignored.

When they were finally left in peace (Luss gave up on chasing them after a while), the seven year old in Fran's arms turned and looked up at him. The wide, childishly happy grin was contagious. Fran lifted an eyebrow at the boy.

'_Ushishishi~_ Prince Bel has been wondering why you wear that stupid hat~'

Fran twitched.

'…No good reason.'

'_Ushishi_, then take it off. Your hair looks nice, show me more.'

Fran paused his relaxed strides and stared at the little prince. _What?_ He always wanted him to wear that thing and now he was telling him to take it off?

Yes Fran, he is, because this is not your annoying Bel-sempai. This is a seven year old who has no knowledge of what his older self has been up to.

Right.

Fran shifted the small royalty so he had a free arm to take his hat off. He didn't want to let go of the child, it felt really warm and nice to hold him to his body. Odd.

The large and heavy frog hat slumped to the ground. Fran's shoulder-length, mossy green hair was revealed and the illusionist shook his head, relishing the freedom.

A small hand reached up and grasped a thick strand of Fran's soft hair. It was twisted and curled between pale fingers, curiously caressed. The curiosity made the green-haired teen feel warm.

Fran continued walking and Bel continued playing with his hair, leaving the hat in the hallway. Bel was apparently not done talking, because Fran was soon subjected to the round of questioning he'd already been expecting from the moment his sempai was shot with the ten-year-bazooka.

'What's your name, peasant?'

Fran realized that although it was annoying when his own Bel-sempai did it, the child version of him could very well get away with a holier-than-thou attitude. This curious little kid made it endearing.

'Fran.'

'Where are you taking prince Bel?'

For some reason, the kid was referring to himself as _prince Bel_, rather than _the prince_. He wondered when that had changed, and why.

'To your room.'

'My room is in the royal palace, not some peasants' mansion.'

_Peasants'_ mansion? Peasants live in mansions, according to this boy? Well… Yeah, they did, 'cause the Varia (apart from Bel) were definitely not noblemen.

'Would you rather go to my room?'

It would be too much of a pain to explain the whole time travel affair to the boy if he didn't already know.

'_Ushishi!_ Yes, prince Bel very much wants to see your room! Why is your hair green?'

Fran sighed. That question had gotten old _ages_ ago. But then Bel surprised him.

'It's pretty. I want green hair like yours. Can you dye it?'

Fran blinked. Looking down at the child, he found an upturned face, not smiling but giving him an inquiring look. Perfectly honest.

Bel-sempai had said his hair was weird once… But that was during one of their fights. Maybe he hadn't meant it? Fran decided then and there to confront his sempai about this as soon as he switched places with his younger self again.

'I… It's… not dyed. It's natural. I've never seen hair dye in a colour like this.'

Bel pouted disappointedly, his small heart-shaped face conveying just how deeply affronted he felt. Fran made the most frightening discovery then.

His sempai… at some stage of his life, his sempai had looked genuinely cute. Sweet, even. And to think, this boy was only a year away from making an almost-but-not-successful attempt at murdering his own brother.

Creepy.

'Prince Bel demands to have the same hair as you! Make it so, peasant! Peasants must do what the prince says, so you have to get it done!' He was still pouting, even as he tried on a childlike, semi-authoritive tone.

Fran hid a smile behind his high collar. This kid was truly heart-warming. The lack of knives being stabbed into his person made it all the more easy to notice this.

The illusionist quickly came up with an idea to give his way younger partner (oh _yeah_, who's the sempai now?) the hair he so desperately wanted.

'Okay. I can do that.'

The little prince's face lit up with joy, impossibly wide, teeth-baring grin reflecting the light of all the nearby light sources. He chuckled in a victorious kind of way and returned to playing with Fran's hair, sitting up straighter in his arms to do so. Fran was surprised that he didn't demand to get it done immediately. Maybe this younger Bel was still used to higher powers, like parents? Interesting… Kind of unsettling too. It was weird to see his sempai being patient. Obediently patient.

Way creepier.

Not too long after that, they arrived at Fran's room. The illusionist closed the door behind them and walked over to his bed, depositing the little boy on it with a great deal of reluctance. Bel looked confused, but Fran decided he'd show him rather than explain.

That worked until he opened the door to the adjoining bathroom and stepped in. A twin _thunk_ was heard and when Fran looked at his doorpost, he could see two familiarly shaped, but smaller knives sticking out of the wood. Beyond that, Bel sat up straight in the middle of his bed, looking small and way too cute as he pouted at his temporary caretaker for leaving him.

Fran chose to do something parental and ignored him, returning to what he was doing. He heard a loud shocked gasp coming from his room while he turned to the mirror he was trying to detach from the wall.

Teaching Bel that throwing knives at him was a great way to get his attention wouldn't bode well for him in the future, after all. Maybe this would change some things. And even if the older Bel-sempai wouldn't stop that, he could at least spend the time with this little version in peace.

When Fran turned back to the bathroom's door, unhooked mirror in his hands, he was faced with the full on frontal assault of the child's trembly pout, complete with one hand clutching the doorpost and the other wringing his pristine dress shirt tightly into permanent wrinkles.

Fran staggered, nearly dropped the fragile mirror and gaped at the mini-Bel.

_Holy fuck, how does he do that?_

He probably shouldn't teach him that _that_ was a _great_ way to whoop him into submission, so he did his best to ignore the almost heartbreaking sight in front of him and walked past Bel, back into the room.

He was rewarded with another disbelieving gasp. His lips twitched.

Before he could reach the bed, he was jerked back slightly. He turned his head and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the trembling little blonde at his heels.

Bel looked deeply insulted.

Fran snorted loudly in a failed attempt to suppress his laughter and quickly crossed the few feet left between him and his bed, putting the mirror down on it. Bel held on to the back of his uniform stubbornly, only letting go when Fran lifted him from the floor and out of reach.

Fran smiled slightly at the small boy, who was practically pouting at the unfairness of the universe, and set him down gently onto the soft sheets, right next to the mirror. Bel immediately turned around, turning his back on Fran quite pointedly and sticking his nose in the air indignantly. The illusionist coughed to hide his amusement.

He sat down right behind the small boy, his shoulder comfortably pressed against his back. Bel didn't move away, but turned his nose to the other side.

'Hmm… I guess this mirror will let you see what you look like with my colour hair…'

The child froze, instant dilemma arisen.

Fran had to keep from grinning triumphantly as it was all too predictable. He wondered how long it would take until the prince chose curiosity over pride.

It took about 10 seconds.

Bel turned around, trying to cover up his shyness with an arrogant air that failed miserably. It was really too bad his older self had perfected that technique over the years. The child avoided his gaze and instead stared at the mirror, fiddling with the blunt edges.

Fran decided not to torture the young kid any longer and generously offered him an opening.

'You sure about this? I don't know what it'll look like…'

Bel quickly nodded, scooting closer to him expectantly, keeping his face turned away from Fran shyly.

_D'awww._

Darn, how did he do it? It was so hard to believe that this was really the same guy as his sempai.

'Okay then. Sit very still.'

The child instantly froze in his movements, going stock-still and sounding like he was holding in his breath, too, just to be sure.

'You better keep breathing, though.'

A rushed exhale. Fran lifted his hands to the boy's head and poked it gently in several different places. If possible, Bel went even more still. Fran hummed thoughtfully a couple of times, then made some random figures with his fingers around the blonde head. He was convinced that behind those bangs, wide eyes were following his every move and he had to suppress another smile.

Who knew kids could be this fun?

Eventually, when he felt he'd left the boy in enough anxious anticipation, Fran weaved his energy into an illusion of colour, dying the straight blonde tresses a green exactly the same shade as his own. Bel gasped, jerking slightly but immediately returning to his former position, afraid the spell might be broken.

Fran dropped his hands to his lap when he was done.

'There you go. Check it out.' He pointed lazily at the mirror.

Bel nearly fell over in his rush to see his new 'do, smushing his face against the mirror as he stared at his reflection. Fran longed for a video camera.

It was really weird to see the familiar blonde in his own green hue, even weirder than a patient sempai. The kid made a cute array of overjoyed little noises as he admired his hair, turning his head this way and that, touching his bangs with his little fingers. Fran leant back on his elbows, sufficiently entertained.

At long last, mini-Bel whipped around, grinning at him with a mouth that hung open in pure glee.

'That's so cool! Thank you!'

Fran felt his own jaw drop at the completely surreal event of Bel-sempai _thanking_ him for something, but before he could snap his mouth shut, pink smoke engulfed the small form and filled his mouth, nose and eyes.

He turned his face away to avoid the next billowing waves of misty pink and covered his mouth, coughing out the yucky substance.

When the smoke cleared, his own Bel-sempai was sat on the mirror he'd just been admiring his new green hair in and was staring at Fran like he was something he'd never seen before.

Must've remembered and realised how out of character it was for him to want Fran's hair then.

Oh! Now that he mentioned it,

'Sempai, do you really think my hair colour is weird? Your younger self wanted me to turn his hair green because mine was pretty. Do you think I'm pretty, sempai?'

Oops, that last question came out wrong. But oh well.

Bel stared at him, mouth opening and closing, but no words coming out.

'…Well!' He finally managed, sitting up straighter. He realised he was sitting on something and looked down in confusion before tugging the mirror out from under himself. He set it down beside him on the sheets. He may have been looking a little bit embarrassed just then.

'Well, sempai?'

Bel glared at him, but if fell short at his nose. Fran was highly amused.

'…I was just a kid, I didn't know stupid frogs were…' He trailed off, apparently still not knowing what stupid frogs were. Fran stretched his legs out in front of him, not bothering to avoid his sempai who shot him a disgruntled 'Hey!'.

'I'm glad you think I'm pretty, sempai. You were really cute.'

Bel had been about to growl something at him when he fell instantly silent, gaping.

'What the…?' He managed weakly, staring at Fran intently. Fran feigned ignorance.

'Didn't even stab me.' Well, apart from the first time, but the rest of their time together had gone so well that he graciously forgave that. 'Pulled off the meanest manipulative pouts, too.'

Yep, Bel was definitely looking embarrassed now. _Niiiiiice_.

'You even looked pretty cute with my colour hair, even if you did look silly.'

Ah, and now he was blushing. _Ding ding ding, ten points for Fran._

What? You seriously thought he was going to let Bel live this down? Ahahaha.

Silly you.

'Sh-shut up, stupid toad.' Bel turned his face away, an action that instantly reminded Fran strongly of the little prince who just left. The illusionist couldn't help but smile at that. Cute.

'Hmm. You two look alike. Though your younger self is definitely cuter.'

Bel growled at him and leant forward on his hands, towards his ex-caretaker. 'Shut. Up.'

Fran grinned at him, right in his face. He didn't realise that that was the first time for the older Bel-sempai to see such an expression on him, until he'd been stared at for nearly a full minute.

'Sempai?'

Bel huh'd, tilting his head. _Cute_.

'You're pretty cute, too, when you smile. No wonder you don't do it, makes you look like a girl.'

Okay. So, _so uncute_. That's it. Only the seven year old Bel was cute, erase all such thoughts about this one.

Bel smirked victoriously and leant back, relaxing triumphantly.

'You better watch out, sempai. I'm gonna kill you in your sleep.' Fran growled in his monotone, narrowing his jade eyes when his sempai only chuckled derisively. Fran huffed.

'Too bad you're completely uncute. I'm going to ask the long-haired commander to permanently replace you with? your younger self.'

Bel froze for the third time that evening. Fran watched him carefully.

'…What did you just say?' He asked quietly, his sprawled out pose no longer as relaxed as it seemed.

Fran bit his lip. It had only been a joke, but his sempai didn't seem to be taking it as one. And this kind of comment… He knew what it felt like when others thought someone else should be in your place rather than you.

Bel slowly sat up and Fran's eyes widened at the hurt expression on his face. His sempai seemed to be biting the inside of his bottom lip and it jutted out the tiniest bit, only enough to be noticeable. His slim, pale fingers were wringing the fabric of his favourite striped shirt tightly and his face was tilted slightly down, his shoulders hunched, as if he was studying Fran's knees.

Fran's heart twisted painfully.

And _then_ his spidy-senses started tingling.

The illusionist rolled his eyes then reached out, thwacking Bel upside his head. An indignant 'Oi!' was heard, but belied by the wide grin on that partially hidden face when his sempai looked up.

'Really, sempai. It didn't work, remember?'

Bel's grin only widened, though. 'Not for my younger self, maybe, but the Prince learns~ _Ushishishi_' Fran huffed and laid back down comfortably. The mattress dipped in several places around him until his sempai flopped down inelegantly beside him.

'_Ushishishi_~ See, the prince is much cuter.'

'You two are the same person, sempai, did you forget?'

His sempai didn't respond, only snuggled up close to his side. Fran glanced down at the face that was burying itself in between his am and the sheets. Cute.

'Hmm. Would you still like to have my hair colour?'

Bel gave a muffled negative. Fran smiled openly.

'Too bad. I think you'd look _really_ cute.'

Bel's muffled laughter vibrated into his side.

Ende

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, yo<strong>.

SO! I love little Bel! I love witing about little kids, because they can get away with almost EVERYTHING. And that is most fun with the Varia, though not so much in this fic.

So I really love this story! I'm so happy~ I hope you guys enjoyed it! Especially you who have alerted me for What Do You Think, Stupid Sempai, because I wanna know if this met your expectations :)

DID YOU LOVE IT TOOOOO?

please review! They make me feel loved~

Cheers!

~Dirkje


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